MSA Senate elects ASUM board members
Published April 16, 2004
Missouri Students Association senators elected three new members to the Associated Students of the University of Missouri's board of directors at Wednesday's Senate meeting.
John Lorenz and Ashley Warren were elected to one-year terms on the board of directors, and Craig Kleine was elected to finish the term of a graduating member of the board. He can run for the position again when the term expires in October, ASUM board of directors President Sarah Jackson said.
There are 15 members on ASUM's board of directors, six of whom are from MU. The number of representatives from each of the UM system's four universities is based on enrollment at each school, Jackson said.
ASUM, a student lobbying organization, is working to make scholarships proportional to tuition increases and to lower the jury duty age from 21 to 18.
Warren, who is also one of two MSA Senate clerks, said she is excited to get the opportunity to work with ASUM to make sure students have the best college experience possible.
"Being involved in government is so important to me," she said. "I want to be involved as much as possible as soon as possible. ASUM makes sure the voice of the students is heard in Jefferson City."
Lorenz said he thinks he will provide ASUM's board of directors with the perspective of someone from a rural area.
"I think I'll provide a fresh face to ASUM," he said. "Not everybody is from St. Louis or Kansas City. What if your dad's a farmer and your mom's a schoolteacher? Where's that perspective? I think I could put a new spin on old ideas."
In his speech to the Senate, Kleine said the rising cost of tuition hurts recruitment.
"We need to focus not only on gender or racial diversity, but ideological diversity as well," he said.
Jackson said the three new members of the board of directors officially will begin their terms this summer, but will attend ASUM's board of directors meeting April 23 to learn about the process.
Senate passes
bylaw revisions
Following the election of ASUM board members, the Senate passed a bill to revise chapter four of its bylaws. It will prohibit Contingency and Reserve funds from going to student organizations outside of MSA.
Bill co-sponsor Danny French said organizations should go to the Student Organization Allocation Committee to request funds, and the C&R fund would be used to finance MSA needs.
"It used to be set up like that," Clerk Greg Chase said. "This will put the bylaws back to how it was set up in the past."
Before the Senate changed the bylaws, it passed a C&R request from Collegiate 100 to help fund a trip to the 100 Black Men Conference. Collegiate 100 was granted $4,000 to pay for its trip.
The funds will allow Collegiate 100 to represent the university on a national level, bill co-sponsor Warren said.
"They are tremendous with outreach in the community," she said. "By attending the conference, they would be able to bring so much more to campus and the community."